Safety gate



Get. 2, 1928. 1,686,430'

' c. WRIGHT lSAFETY GATE Filed May 27, 1927 ATTO RN EY Patented @et 2, 1928.

entren stares insana cnnnnns` WRIGHT, on EVAnsiron;l Immers.

SAFETY GATE.

Application inea ivf-ay 27, 1927. serial NSO, 194,755.

rfhisy invention relates to cer-tain novel improvements in safety gates adaptedtov be used at the intersection of a highway and' a rail1- road and more particularly to such gates adapted for automatic operation.

ALs is well understood gates of the foregof ing type must be positive in operation. It is therefore the salient object of myv invention to provide a safety gate for railfroad crossings which will embody a-n arrangement which will operate automatically in a positiver manner and which will embody a mini'- mum number of moving parts in order to insure said positive operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a safety gate for railroad crossings which will embody an electromagnetic construction for the operation of said" gates in` one direction and which will include weight means for operating the gate Iin the ot-her direction. Y

A further objectof the invention is to provide an automatic safety gate for railroadcrossings which will embody a structure that will produce a warning signal prior to the operation of saidA gates.

@ther objects will appear hereinafter.

rfhe invention consists inv the novel' combination and arrangement lof partstobe hereinafter described and claimed.`

rThe invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying, drawings, showing the preferred form of construction and: in which: l y

Fig. 1 is ay side elevational view of a pre-- ferred embodiment of my safety railroad crossing gate;

Fig. 21s alongitudinal sectionall view of sage along a public highway over a rail-roadv track. tn the presentinstance I depict the 10` as: being of a type adapted' to 'extend' entirely acress the highway and;E a leg 11v is pivotally4 attached to the outer end of the gate' 10. that is adapted' to support the outer' end of said gate when`I it is ini lowered prosiil tiion. It is to bevunderstoodl that if the-highway is wide,-tw.o gatesv will. be' employed, one on each side that will be adapted to obstruct passage along one halfV of the highj` way.-

ln' the'present instanceth'egate 1.0 is mounted on the shaft 12 that is'journaled inl suit.-

able bea-rings (not shown)v that areprovded in the housing 13'. Preferably the' shaft` 1'2" and the housing 13 are located withy respect. to the gate 10 in such a way that the major portion of the gate extends; across the' highway and that the remainingv portion of the' gate will' be arranged so'that a counterbalance 14 may be mounted', these twov portions being adapted to'I pivot with the shaft '12". The counter balance lil-is of` greater' weight than the portion ofthey gate 10 on theopposite side of the shaft 12' in order that' said counterwei'ght wil-l tendi to hold th'e'gate' in raised" position. i

'@n, the shaft 12 within the housingf'l', afl

pinion` 115 is mounted. Supported within the housingl 13 is ag-shafft' 16"t`o| which a: pinioni 17 islteyed.y rl`he sha-ft 16 is rotatably' jourvnaled in the bearings (not shown) that areprovi'd'edf in the housing 13.V An arm.- 19 is secured to the shaft 16 and a connecting rodi 19 has pivotal connection. with the outer. end thereof. A chain belt '20 connects thel pinions l5 andl 17' but it isl to beunderstood' that any other analogous structure might be sub-y stituted. y

Mounted within the housing 10 is al mage netic coilr 21 whiclr isadapted to )be 'of the solenoid type and a movable core 212 is provided inV this coil: that is' adapted to .be aix-.- tracted thereby.l The connecting rodi19'ifsl pivotall'y attached@ to the core 22 and? move'-v ment of said core istrans-lated through the connecting rodi 1l9 through the arm 18: tof the' shaft 16. t Mounted kwit-hin the housing 131 must be provided which will be operable before the gates are lowered in order that pedestrians and vehicles on the crossing maybe appraised of the fact that the gates are to be lowered. Therefore a switch 24 is located along the rails at a point far in advance of the gate operating switches. A conductor 25 connects the switch 24 to the warning devices which in the present instance are comprised of a bell 26 and a lamp 2? that are mounted on a post 23 that is located at a readily visible point along thc highway. A lconductor 29 connects the warning devices 26 and 27 with a battery 23 andthe switch 24 is connected with the battery through a conductor 30.

- In order to close the circuit to the gate operating mechanism 21 an auxiliary switch struc* ture is provided which in the present instance comprises a solenoid coil31 that is adapt-ed to attract a movable'core 32. Secured to a wall of the housing 13 is a pivotal mounting 33 on which the switch blade 34 is'pirotally mounted. Pivotallyattached to the switch blade 34 and the movable core 32 is a connecting arm 35 that is adapted to transmit movement of said core 32 to said blade 34. Located along the rails at a point behind the switch 24 is a switch 36 that is connected to the core 31 by a conductor 37. A conductor 38 connects the winding of the core 31 to one terminal of the battery 23 ,and the conductor 30 connects the other terminal ofthe battery to the switch Then the switch 33 is closed current will flow from the battery 23 through conductor 30,

Y switch 36, conductor 37, through the windings of the' solenoid coil 31, and conductor 33, back to the battery 23, thus providing a closed circuit which will createa magnetic flux in coil 31 which will attract the core 32 that will move downwardly and cause the switch blade 34 to engage the contact 39.

A conductor 40 connects the contact 39 with the windingof the solenoid coil 31. The conductor 41 connects the other terminal of the y coil 21 to one terminal of a resistance 42. The

resistance 42 is adapted to control the current input to the coil 21. This is accomplished by connecting a plurality of switches located along the rail to said vresistance at points arranged to gradually reduce the effective resistance of said coil, The first switch to be engaged by an on-coming train is the switch 43 which is connected to the resistance `42 through a conductor 44 that is connected to ythe resistance 42 in such a way as to include the entire resistance in the circuit. Vhen the v22. The magnitude of the yattraction however willbe comparatively small due to the fact that the resistance 42 1s nl the circuit. It will be sufficient however to begin movement ofthe gate 10 which will be caused by the downward movement of the armature 22 that will be translated to the connecting rod 19,

arm 18, pinion 17, shaft 16, chain belt 20, pinion 15, to shaft 12 on which the gate 10 is mounted. A short time after the circuit is closed by the switch 43 the switch 46 will be engaged. The switch 46 is attached to the resistance coil 42 by a conductor 47 which engages the resistance in such a way that part of the effectiveness thereof is reduced. The circuit to the coil 21 may the same as that described except that the current will now flow through the conductor 47, instead of the conductor 44 and therefore a greater flux will be built up in the coil 21 which will accelerate the movement of the armature 22. The switch 48 is next engaged which is connected through the coil 21 to exert its maximum magnetic force. This will cause further acceleration of the core 22 and will completely ylower the gate 10.

l A contact strip 50 is positioned along the rail at a point behind the switch. 43 and is arranged so that it will be held in engaging position as'long as a train is passing over thecrossing. As soon as the last car of the train disengages the contact strip 50 the circuit will be openedA and the counter bala-nce 14 will cause the gate to raise which will cause the armature 22 to assume its inoperative position. y

In order to re-position the armature 32 a switch 51 is provided at a point beyond the end of the'contact strip 50. The contact strip 50 is connected to a solenoid coil 52 by a conductor 53 and the other terminal of the coil 52 is connected to the battery 23 by a conductor 54. The switch .51 is attached to the kother terminal of the battery 23. by an extension of the conductor 30. "When the circuit is closed by the switch 51 the coil 52 is energized by current which will flow through the conductor 30, switch 51, conductor 53, coil 52, and conductor 54. This will cause a magnetic flux to be exerted by the kcoil 52 which will act von the movable armature v55, the movement of which will be translated through a connecting rod 56that is pivot-ally lllU assenso attached' thereto andwh-ioh i-s alsay pivotal-ly attached to the contact blade 34 which will cause the blade 3a to disengage the contact 39; f

`It is apparent that a gate will be requ-irec on 'each side of the railfroa-d crossing. rlhe other gatel will, be Operated in the same manner as that described for the gate 10. In the event a double traclr system is provided duplicate sets of switches will be located on the respective sides of the highway depending on the direction of operation over the tracks.

It is apparent from the foregoing description that I have provided a gate operating mechanism which embodies a minimum number of operating parts and in view of the fact that an electromagnet is used to operate the gates, the apparatus will function in a positive manner.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of y variation and modification, without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modilications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A device of the class described including a crossing gate mounted on a rockab-le shaft, means tending to hold said gate in raised position, a housing in which said shaft is mounted, another shaft mounted in said housing, and means connecting said shafts, an electro-magnet having a movable core, means connecting said core and said second mentioned shaft, a circuit for said electromagnet including, a source -of energy, a resistance, and a plurality of switches operated by an approaching train, said switches being arranged to gradually cut out said resistance from the circuit.

2. In combination, a housing, a shaft rockably journaled in said housing, a crossing gate mounted on said shaft embodying a counter-balance tending to hold said gate in raised position, another shaft in said housing operatively connected to said first mentioned shaft, means for moving said shafts to lower said gate including an electromagnet having a movable core operatively connected to said second mentioned shaft, a circuit for said electro-magnet including an energizing source, a resistance, and an electro-magnetic switch means controlling said circuit, a switch means operated by an approaching train for actuating said electromagnetic switch means for closing said circuit, and a plurality of switch means successively operated by said approaching train adapted to cut out said resistance in a step by' step `n-iannerto gradually accelerate said electro-magnet. l

.3'. In combination, a housing, a shaft roekably journal'edl in said housing,a crossing gate mounted -on said shaftV embodyingl a counter-.balance tending to holid said gate in raised position., another shaft in said housing operatively connected to said; first mentioned shaft, means for moving said shafts to lower said gate including an electro-magnet having a movable core operatively connected to said second mentioned shaft, a circuit `for said electro-magnet including an energizing source, a resistance, and anelectro-magnetic switch means controlling said circuit, a switch means operated by an approaching train for actuating said electro-magnetic switch means for closing said circuit, and a plurality of switch means successively operated by said approaching train adapted to cut out said resistance in a step by step manner to gradually accelerate said electro-magnet, said operating mechanisms being returned to inoperative position after the passing of said train by said counter balance.

4; In combination, a housing, a shaft rockably journa-led in said housing, a crossing gate mounted on said shaft embodying a counter--balancetending to hold said gate in raised position, another shaft in said housing operatively connected to said first mentioned shaft, means for moving said shafts to lower said gate including an electro-magnet having a movable core operatively connected to said second mentioned shaft, a circuit for said electro-magnet including an energizing source, a resistance, and an electro-magnetic switch means controlling said circuit, a switch means operated by an approaching train for actuating said electro-magnetic switch means for closing said circuit, and a plurality of switch means successively operated by said approaching train adapted to cut out said resistance in a step by step manner to gradually accelerate said electro-magnet, said operating mechanisms being returned to inoperative position after the passing of said train by said counter balance` and electro-magnetic means op-v erated by said train after passing for breaking said circuit and repositioning said electro-magnetic switch` 5. In combination, a crossing gate, means for lowering said gate including an electromagnet having a movable core, the circuit of said electromagnet including an energizing source, a resistance, electro-magnetic means controlling said circuit, and a plurality of switches mounted along the rails of a railroad right of way, one of said switches serving to operate said `electro-magnetic switch to close the circuit to said electromagnetic operating means, another of said 4switches operable after said first mentioned switch to close the circuit to said electromagnetic means through said resistance, and other of said switch means operable in a step by step the passage of said train7 and a switch means manner after said last mentioned switch operating electro-magnetic means after said 10 means to gradually out out said resistance train has passed said Contact strip to open from the circuit, and means operable by a said circuit and reposition said electromagtrain on said rails for maintaining said circuit netic switch members.

closed while said train is passing, and weight In testimony whereof I aiix my signature. means on said gate for positioning said operating means is inoperative position after CHARLES WRIGHT. 

